Undergraduate and graduate students from Expedition 39 crew member Rick Mastracchio’ s alma maters, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Conn., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y. and University of Houston-Clear Lake will speak with him live from the International Space Station at 11:45 a.m. CDT, Friday, April 18. News media representatives are invited to attend. 

Mastracchio is gearing up for the third spacewalk of his mission on Wednesday, April 23, to replace a failed multiplexer-demultiplexer relay system. He is sixth on the all-time list for most time spent spacewalking. The students will ask the astronauts questions about life, work and research aboard the orbiting space station. 

To attend the event, reporters must contact:
–Colin Poitras at (860) 301-6440 or colin.poitras@uconn.edu for University of Connecticut, Storrs, Conn.
–Peter Grimm at (518) 276-6237 or grimmp@rpi.edu for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y. 
–Rachel Hobson at (281) 283-2030 or hobson@uhcl.edu for University of Houston-Clear Lake, Houston 

Linking students directly to the astronauts aboard the space station will provide students with an authentic, live experience of space exploration, space study, and the scientific components of space travel and possibilities of life in space. 

This in-flight education downlink is one in a series with educational organizations in the United States and abroad to improve science, technology, engineering and math teaching and learning. It is an integral component of NASA’s Teaching From Space education program, which promotes learning opportunities and builds partnerships with the education community using the unique environment of space and NASA’s human spaceflight program. 

For information about NASA’s education programs, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/education

For information about the International Space Station, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/station

To follow Twitter updates from Expedition 39 astronauts, visit:

http://twitter.com/AstroRM 

To follow Instagram updates from Expedition 39 astronauts, visit:

http://instagram.com/iss